bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Bug in LatencyMon?
I was hearing intermittent faint crackles in my speakers, even with the system under light load and using large buffers, so I ran LatencyMon to see if any clues might pop out. Nothing did. DPC latencies are averaging around 5 us, with a maximum of 150 us. All well-within the green zone.
However, LM (ver 6.5) gave me this absurd piece of information:
Reported CPU speed: 3991 MHz
Measured CPU speed: 1 MHz (approx.)
Although certain that the CPU cannot possibly be actually running at 1 MHz, I used a tool called HWMonitor to check temperatures and clock speeds. It reports that the system is neither overheating nor overly throttled (measured clock speeds are between 4.1 and 4.4 GHz). My power plan is "High Performance", with the minimum (and maximum) processing state set to 100%. I have USB power saving turned off (irrelevant anyway as my audio interface is Firewire).
LatencyMon seems to be getting some math wrong.
Anyone seen this? I know, when you run LM you're not using it to verify your clock speed, so there's a good chance no one's noticed it even if it was happening. But I'd appreciate anybody just taking a look at LM on their system and letting me know if this feature is broken generally or if it might be a clue to my crackles.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
Rob[at]Sound-Rehab
Max Output Level: -47 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2819
- Joined: 2011/02/03 04:31:35
- Location: Sound-Rehab, Austria
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 01:45:24
(permalink)
bitflipper
I was hearing intermittent faint crackles in my speakers, even with the system under light load and using large buffers, so I ran LatencyMon to see if any clues might pop out. Nothing did. DPC latencies are averaging around 5 us, with a maximum of 150 us. All well-within the green zone.
can't comment on your latency mon question, but as regards faint crackles I'm having the EXACT same situation. according to latency mon I have a super-smooth system, but I do get occasional crackles in playback, even at high ASIO/read/write buffers, of course non-reproducible ... with DAW offline (win10 pro, only win defender w/ all audio directories excluded) ... this even happens on audio only (no VSTi) projects ... currently thinking it's either Sonar itself or my HD growing old (???)
GOOD TUNES LAST FOREVER +++ Visit the Rehab +++ DAW: Platinum/X3e, win10 64 bit, i7-3930K (6x3.2GHz), Asus Sabertooth X79, 32 GB DDR3 1600MHz, ATI HD 5450, 120 GB SSD OCZ Agility3, 2x 1TB WD HDD SATA 600 Audio-Interface: 2x MOTU 1248 AVB, Focusrite OctoPre, (Roland Octa-Capture) Control-Surface: VS-700C VSTi: WAVES, NI K10u, FabFilter, IK, ... (too many really)
|
fireberd
Max Output Level: -38 dBFS
- Total Posts : 3704
- Joined: 2008/02/25 14:14:28
- Location: Inverness, FL
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 06:30:00
(permalink)
Mine shows the same, however you must have missed this included statement:
"WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature."
"GCSG Productions" Franklin D-10 Pedal Steel Guitar (primary instrument). Nashville Telecaster, Bass, etc. ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero M/B, i7 6700K CPU, 16GB Ram, SSD and conventional hard drives, Win 10 Pro and Win 10 Pro Insider Pre-Release Sonar Platinum/CbB. MOTU 896MK3 Hybrid, Tranzport, X-Touch, JBL LSR308 Monitors, Ozone 5, Studio One 4.1 ISRC Registered Member of Nashville based R.O.P.E. Assn.
|
abacab
Max Output Level: -30.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 4464
- Joined: 2014/12/31 19:34:07
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 12:33:46
(permalink)
Yup, I get the 1 MHz reading here as well, but ignore it. Checked with HWMonitor too. Every time I hear a intermittent crackling sound in my speakers, if I disable my network adapter, it goes away 
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
|
Rob[at]Sound-Rehab
Max Output Level: -47 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2819
- Joined: 2011/02/03 04:31:35
- Location: Sound-Rehab, Austria
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 12:49:24
(permalink)
abacab
Every time I hear a intermittent crackling sound in my speakers, if I disable my network adapter, it goes away
I'm not connected. neither to LAN nor WiFi - so does it still make any difference to disable it in device manager?
GOOD TUNES LAST FOREVER +++ Visit the Rehab +++ DAW: Platinum/X3e, win10 64 bit, i7-3930K (6x3.2GHz), Asus Sabertooth X79, 32 GB DDR3 1600MHz, ATI HD 5450, 120 GB SSD OCZ Agility3, 2x 1TB WD HDD SATA 600 Audio-Interface: 2x MOTU 1248 AVB, Focusrite OctoPre, (Roland Octa-Capture) Control-Surface: VS-700C VSTi: WAVES, NI K10u, FabFilter, IK, ... (too many really)
|
fireberd
Max Output Level: -38 dBFS
- Total Posts : 3704
- Joined: 2008/02/25 14:14:28
- Location: Inverness, FL
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 14:40:02
(permalink)
If you are not connecting, disable the NIC.
I had some crackling when I first got the MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid. I reused the USB cable that I had been using with a Roland Octa-Capture and I would get some intermittent crackling on the output of the MOTU unit ONLY with Sonar. I could close and restart Sonar and there may or may not be any crackling. Turned out, in my case, the USB port that was being used was a USB 3.0 port (Intel USB 3.0). I moved it to a USB 2.0 port and the crackling went away. I later used a new USB 2.0 cable and connected it to a different USB 3.0 port and I haven't had any of the crackling.
"GCSG Productions" Franklin D-10 Pedal Steel Guitar (primary instrument). Nashville Telecaster, Bass, etc. ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero M/B, i7 6700K CPU, 16GB Ram, SSD and conventional hard drives, Win 10 Pro and Win 10 Pro Insider Pre-Release Sonar Platinum/CbB. MOTU 896MK3 Hybrid, Tranzport, X-Touch, JBL LSR308 Monitors, Ozone 5, Studio One 4.1 ISRC Registered Member of Nashville based R.O.P.E. Assn.
|
abacab
Max Output Level: -30.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 4464
- Joined: 2014/12/31 19:34:07
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/25 16:19:50
(permalink)
It's probably a good idea to disable and/or unplug anything you aren't using. I also go into my BIOS and disable onboard sound and the Ethernet port. That way the OS never sees it.
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/26 17:23:14
(permalink)
Thanks for checking, abacab and fireberd. I'm just going to ignore the bogus CPU speed warning.
I've been trying various things to get to the bottom of my crackle problem. I'm convinced it's not buffer over/underruns or excessive DPC latency. ATM I'm thinking it isn't a digital problem at all, but in the analog signal chain.
I have turned down the input sensitivity control on my speakers 2 dB, and that may have cured the crackles. I have to qualify that with "may", because the problem is intermittent. If that does turn out to be the solution, then I'll be a little dismayed that my fancy new Emotivas don't have more preamp headroom.
Of course, they still have enough power to cause hearing damage. I've just tested them with Wagner's Die Walküre, followed by the 1812 Overture (with cannons) and Invincible (Two Steps from Hell) - at cinema volume - with no discernible distortion. Still loving these speakers!
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/26 20:31:21
(permalink)
Well my "fix" lasted two hours, then the crackles returned. Dang.
Because the noises seem to favor the left channel, I have physically swapped the two speakers to see if it moves. Fingers crossed it doesn't, as that would suggest a defective amplifier and that would make me very sad.
Unfortunately, since the swap there haven't been any more crackles. That could still mean an amplifier problem: I turned them off to move them and that may have allowed the amps to cool. So I'm just going to have to sit here listening to Dream Theater at high volume for an hour or so. The suffering I endure in the name of high fidelity!
I know nobody cares about my crackles. I'm just posting this to keep track of my troubleshooting process. However, if anyone thinks of something I haven't tried yet, I'm all ears.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
abacab
Max Output Level: -30.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 4464
- Joined: 2014/12/31 19:34:07
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/26 20:43:54
(permalink)
bitflipper
Well my "fix" lasted two hours, then the crackles returned. Dang.
Because the noises seem to favor the left channel, I have physically swapped the two speakers to see if it moves. Fingers crossed it doesn't, as that would suggest a defective amplifier and that would make me very sad.
Unfortunately, since the swap there haven't been any more crackles. That could still mean an amplifier problem: I turned them off to move them and that may have allowed the amps to cool. So I'm just going to have to sit here listening to Dream Theater at high volume for an hour or so. The suffering I endure in the name of high fidelity!
I know nobody cares about my crackles. I'm just posting this to keep track of my troubleshooting process. However, if anyone thinks of something I haven't tried yet, I'm all ears.
Does your audio module have headphone outputs? Check for the glitch through headphones. That would rule out the amp and speakers ... On the other hand, how much Dream Theater can your ears take with headphones? 
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
|
steveo42
Max Output Level: -89 dBFS
- Total Posts : 90
- Joined: 2015/11/14 18:18:04
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/26 23:16:19
(permalink)
I get the same wrong CPU speed reported by LatencyMon. As the others have said, ignore it.
post edited by steveo42 - 2016/11/27 10:06:41
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/27 12:02:05
(permalink)
Every time I heard the crackles I grabbed headphones to see if the noise would be there, too. As luck would have it, the crackles ceased before I could get them plugged in. And now it's been many hours and I haven't heard them since I moved my speakers. I'm wondering now if I have a bad cable. Unfortunately, I only own two such cables (TRS -> XLR) so I have no spares to substitute.
Much as I love the band, it turned out I could not handle an hour's worth of Dream Theater at one sitting. After a while I turned it off and went back to making some music of my own.
Thanks for the confirmation, Steven. Given that this is the first version of LatencyMon that's compatible with Windows 10, I'm not surprised there'd be a few wrinkles to iron out. I've simply disabled the "CPU Sanity Check" in LM's options, since I've already determined via HWMonitor that my CPUs are not overheating.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
drewfx1
Max Output Level: -9.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 6585
- Joined: 2008/08/04 16:19:11
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/11/27 13:01:08
(permalink)
bitflipper
However, if anyone thinks of something I haven't tried yet, I'm all ears.
I would take your DAW out of the picture and try some other, simpler signal source.
 In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
|
jadonx
Max Output Level: -88 dBFS
- Total Posts : 102
- Joined: 2009/03/18 05:50:41
- Location: North Yorkshire, England
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/05 06:18:19
(permalink)
Not sure if it's coincidence but my crackles stopped after changing the bit depth from 16 to 24 in the windows properties window for my focusrite 6i6 (2nd gen) . Right clicking sound icon task bar,I think in advanced settings(not on laptop right now)
John
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/05 08:20:34
(permalink)
Sometimes just changing your interface's settings does indeed "fix" problems, by forcing a buffer flush and re-initializing the driver. I've had all audio abruptly disappear from the system before; if that happens I just change the buffer size - doesn't matter to what - and audio returns.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
Cactus Music
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8424
- Joined: 2004/02/09 21:34:04
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/05 13:56:23
(permalink)
It a bummer when these things happen, and more of a bummer when it's intermittent.
Makes it real hard to track down.
I have had a noise in my system for a long while and narrowed it down to my ancient Yamaha P 2100.
But it took me a while to determine this as like you, the noise came and went.
I just found a 1978 Technics Integrated Amp so all is much better now. I didn't realize how bad the old amp had gotten till I put the Technics in line.
I sure hope it's a cable and not your new speakers.
Did you try wiggling the cables?
Take the ends apart and look close with a magnifier for a stray wire strands or suspicious connections.
I had crackles from cables where just one tiny copper strand was not soldered and just barely touching the wrong pin.
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/06 11:03:54
(permalink)
My noise still hasn't returned. All I did was physically swap my speakers to see if the problem followed the speaker. The noise went away and is still gone. This does make me suspect cables.
Coincidentally, I recently had a microphone "break", a presumably indestructible and nearly-new SM-58. I was certain it was the mic because I tried a different '58 and it worked fine through the same cable and PA channel. I pedaled on down to my local music store and bought another one, plugged it in and it sounded great. End of story, right? Well, no. For grins I re-connected the "broken" mic and to my surprise it sounded fine!
Why did the "broken" mic now work? I can't be certain. I did remove the XLR connector from it to inspect for broken wires or cold solder joints, found no problems and put it back together. I suppose it's possible that simply disassembling and reassembling the mic could have done something.
But another commonality occurred to me: both the microphone cable and the speaker cables are the same brand, and were bought from the same source. They would both have the same XLR connectors and were likely both assembled in the same Chinese factory. Could these cheap cables have intermittent problems? I'm going to be pursuing that line of inquiry next.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
Rob[at]Sound-Rehab
Max Output Level: -47 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2819
- Joined: 2011/02/03 04:31:35
- Location: Sound-Rehab, Austria
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/06 13:45:08
(permalink)
bitflipper
But another commonality occurred to me ...
it's the same ears listening, isn't it ???
GOOD TUNES LAST FOREVER +++ Visit the Rehab +++ DAW: Platinum/X3e, win10 64 bit, i7-3930K (6x3.2GHz), Asus Sabertooth X79, 32 GB DDR3 1600MHz, ATI HD 5450, 120 GB SSD OCZ Agility3, 2x 1TB WD HDD SATA 600 Audio-Interface: 2x MOTU 1248 AVB, Focusrite OctoPre, (Roland Octa-Capture) Control-Surface: VS-700C VSTi: WAVES, NI K10u, FabFilter, IK, ... (too many really)
|
Cactus Music
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8424
- Joined: 2004/02/09 21:34:04
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/06 14:01:36
(permalink)
I have never ruled out cables since the day this happened.
Guy comes into my store and wanted to buy a new Bass because his sounded like crap.
So I took it out of the case and plugged it in to a little Yorkville bass amp and it sounded fine.
He said wow, what did you do. I looked in his open case and saw a coily cable, when we swapped cables his bass sounded muddy and like crap.
Well I could have sold him a new Bass but he would have come right back the next day the minute he used his cable.
I sold him a nice Rodam cable for $15. He really wanted a coily cable but I had now converted his thinking.
Rodam is now out of business but they used Beldon and switchcraft and I still have all my cables for that era and very seldom do they need a re do. So if I need a new cable these days I try and find Beldon wire and Swicthcraft ends.
There is also Mongami and Neutrik.
|
Sycraft
Max Output Level: -73 dBFS
- Total Posts : 871
- Joined: 2012/05/04 21:06:10
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/06 17:19:07
(permalink)
bitflipper
But another commonality occurred to me: both the microphone cable and the speaker cables are the same brand, and were bought from the same source. They would both have the same XLR connectors and were likely both assembled in the same Chinese factory. Could these cheap cables have intermittent problems? I'm going to be pursuing that line of inquiry next. Could be. I like to get expensive cables just to prevent issues like that. I mean Monoprice is great and we use them a lot at work for computer cables, but occasionally one of them has an issue. I don't want issues so I tend to buy Bluejeans cables as they are overbuilt to a massive extent. The money spent is so I don't have to deal with cable issues.
|
bitflipper
01100010 01101001 01110100 01100110 01101100 01101
- Total Posts : 26036
- Joined: 2006/09/17 11:23:23
- Location: Everett, WA USA
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/06 21:56:25
(permalink)
Rob[atSound-Rehab]
bitflipper
But another commonality occurred to me ...
it's the same ears listening, isn't it ???
I borrowed a second set of ears, so as to mitigate that variable. I'm going back to my previous cable brand. I refuse to pay $90 for a mic cable, I don't care if they're NASA surplus. Fortunately, Sweetwater sells a mid-priced brand (Pro Co) that I've used for years with zero issues.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
|
Maarkr
Max Output Level: -81 dBFS
- Total Posts : 488
- Joined: 2011/12/10 09:35:33
- Location: Maine
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2016/12/08 22:10:00
(permalink)
it doesn't sound like the issue you're having, but I had an issue of my wifi router that was close to the speaker and was causing crackles. Took me an hour plus of moving speakers, cables, etc before I grabbed the router and moved it from 1 ft away to 4 ft away... prob solved.
Maarkr Studio: SPALT Lifetime/BL Cakewalk, Studio One 3.5, UAD, Z3ta+2, IKM, NI, Waves, iZotope, Melda, Reaper i7 3770/Giga Z77 mobo, Win10 Pro-64 w16Gb, MOTU Ultralite MK4, Yamaha HS80M wSub, Live: PX-5S, FA-06, Roland Lucina, Epi Les Paul, Ibanez Bass, Amps, e-drums, Zoom R-16... Latest album release, NEW! Counry Classic at http://genemaarkr.bandcamp.com/
|
mudgel
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 12010
- Joined: 2004/08/13 00:56:05
- Location: Linton Victoria (Near Ballarat)
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2017/01/07 01:42:36
(permalink)
bitflipper
Rob[atSound-Rehab]
bitflipper
But another commonality occurred to me ...
it's the same ears listening, isn't it ???
I borrowed a second set of ears, so as to mitigate that variable.
I'm going back to my previous cable brand. I refuse to pay $90 for a mic cable, I don't care if they're NASA surplus. Fortunately, Sweetwater sells a mid-priced brand (Pro Co) that I've used for years with zero issues.
I bought a whole bunch of cables last year and started getting intermittent connection problems. I finally got sick of all the issues and resoldered all the connections. All good now. That'll teach me to try and save those few bucks on cheaper brands. I'm retired so I shouldn't have been so lazy buying cheap; should have just built the cables myself.
Mike V. (MUDGEL) STUDIO: Win 10 Pro x64, SPlat & CbB x64, PC: ASUS Z370-A, INTEL i7 8700k, 32GIG DDR4 2400, OC 4.7Ghz. Storage: 7 TB SATA III, 750GiG SSD & Samsung 500 Gig 960 EVO NVMe M.2. Monitors: Adam A7X, JBL 10” Sub. Audio I/O & DSP Server: DIGIGRID IOS & IOX. Screen: Raven MTi + 43" HD 4K TV Monitor. Keyboard Controller: Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88.
|
fireberd
Max Output Level: -38 dBFS
- Total Posts : 3704
- Joined: 2008/02/25 14:14:28
- Location: Inverness, FL
- Status: offline
Re: Bug in LatencyMon?
2017/01/07 13:39:48
(permalink)
I just built four 10 foot mic cables and used Neutrik connectors. Neutrik is rated high but I can't say I like them, there is no way to make a "mechanical" connection before soldering - just lay the wire in the pin and solder. I'm from "old school" where "proper connection" was to have a mechanical connection before soldering. Same way there is no mechanical cable "strain relief".
(NC3FXX and NC3MXX connectors).
"GCSG Productions" Franklin D-10 Pedal Steel Guitar (primary instrument). Nashville Telecaster, Bass, etc. ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero M/B, i7 6700K CPU, 16GB Ram, SSD and conventional hard drives, Win 10 Pro and Win 10 Pro Insider Pre-Release Sonar Platinum/CbB. MOTU 896MK3 Hybrid, Tranzport, X-Touch, JBL LSR308 Monitors, Ozone 5, Studio One 4.1 ISRC Registered Member of Nashville based R.O.P.E. Assn.
|